History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0164/01644.txt

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$Unique_ID{how01644}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Part I.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Gibbon, Edward}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{footnote
theodoric
avitus
himself
maximus
king
might
vandals
sidonius
emperor}
$Date{1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)}
$Log{}
Title:       History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Book:        Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.
Author:      Gibbon, Edward
Date:        1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)

Part I.

     Sack Of Rome By Genseric, King Of The Vandals. - His Naval Depredations.
- Succession Of The Last Emperors Of The West, Maximus, Avitus, Majorian,
Severus, Anthemius, Olybrius, Glycerius, Nepos, Augustulus. - Total Extinction
Of The Western Empire. - Reign Of Odoacer, The First Barbarian King Of Italy.

     The loss or desolation of the provinces, from the Ocean to the Alps,
impaired the glory and greatness of Rome: her internal prosperity was
irretrievably destroyed by the separation of Africa.  The rapacious Vandals
confiscated the patrimonial estates of the senators, and intercepted the
regular subsidies, which relieved the poverty and encouraged the idleness of
the plebeians.  The distress of the Romans was soon aggravated by an
unexpected attack; and the province, so long cultivated for their use by
industrious and obedient subjects, was armed against them by an ambitious
Barbarian.  The Vandals and Alani, who followed the successful standard of
Genseric, had acquired a rich and fertile territory, which stretched along the
coast above ninety days' journey from Tangier to Tripoli; but their narrow
limits were pressed and confined, on either side, by the sandy desert and the
Mediterranean.  The discovery and conquest of the Black nations, that might
dwell beneath the torrid zone, could not tempt the rational ambition of
Genseric; but he cast his eyes towards the sea; he resolved to create a naval
power, and his bold resolution was executed with steady and active
perseverance.  The woods of Mount Atlas afforded an inexhaustible nursery of
timber: his new subjects were skilled in the arts of navigation and
ship-building; he animated his daring Vandals to embrace a mode of warfare
which would render every maritime country accessible to their arms; the Moors
and Africans were allured by the hopes of plunder; and, after an interval of
six centuries, the fleets that issued from the port of Carthage again claimed
the empire of the Mediterranean.  The success of the Vandals, the conquest of
Sicily, the sack of Palermo, and the frequent descents on the coast of
Lucania, awakened and alarmed the mother of Valentinian, and the sister of
Theodosius.  Alliances were formed; and armaments, expensive and ineffectual,
were prepared, for the destruction of the common enemy; who reserved his
courage to encounter those dangers which his policy could not prevent or
elude.  The designs of the Roman government were repeatedly baffled by his
artful delays, ambiguous promises, and apparent concessions; and the
interposition of his formidable confederate, the king of the Huns, recalled
the emperors from the conquest of Africa to the care of their domestic safety.
The revolutions of the palace, which left the Western empire without a
defender, and without a lawful prince, dispelled the apprehensions, and
stimulated the avarice, of Genseric.  He immediately equipped a numerous fleet
of Vandals and Moors, and cast anchor at the mouth of the Tyber, about three
months after the death of Valentinian, and the elevation of Maximus to the
Imperial throne.

     The private life of the senator Petronius Maximus ^1 was often alleged as
a rare example of human felicity.  His birth was noble and illustrious, since
he descended from the Anician family; his dignity was supported by an adequate
patrimony in land and money; and these advantages of fortune were accompanied
with liberal arts and decent manners, which adorn or imitate the inestimable
gifts of genius and virtue.  The luxury of his palace and table was hospitable
and elegant.  Whenever Maximus appeared in public, he was surrounded by a
train of grateful and obsequious clients; ^2 and it is possible that among
these clients, he might deserve and possess some real friends.  His merit was
rewarded by the favor of the prince and senate: he thrice exercised the office
of Praetorian praefect of Italy; he was twice invested with the consulship,
and he obtained the rank of patrician.  These civil honors were not
incompatible with the enjoyment of leisure and tranquillity; his hours,
according to the demands of pleasure or reason, were accurately distributed by
a water-clock; and this avarice of time may be allowed to prove the sense
which Maximus entertained of his own happiness.  The injury which he received
from the emperor Valentinian appears to excuse the most bloody revenge.  Yet a
philosopher might have reflected, that, if the resistance of his wife had been
sincere, her chastity was still inviolate, and that it could never be restored
if she had consented to the will of the adulterer.  A patriot would have
hesitated before he plunged himself and his country into those inevitable
calamities which must follow the extinction of the royal house of Theodosius.
The imprudent Maximus disregarded these salutary considerations; he gratified
his resentment and ambition; he saw the bleeding corpse of Valentinian at his
feet; and he heard himself saluted Emperor by the unanimous voice of the
senate and people.  But the day of his inauguration was the last day of his
happiness.  He was imprisoned (such is the lively expression of Sidonius) in
the palace; and after passing a sleepless night, he sighed that he had
attained the summit of his wishes, and aspired only to descend from the
dangerous elevation.  Oppressed by the weight of the diadem, he communicated
his anxious thoughts to his friend and quaestor Fulgentius; and when he looked
back with unavailing regret on the secure pleasures of his former life, the
emperor exclaimed, "O fortunate Damocles, ^3 thy reign began and ended with
the same dinner;" a well-known allusion, which Fulgentius afterwards repeated
as an instructive lesson for princes and subjects.

[Footnote 1: Sidonius Apollinaris composed the thirteenth epistle of the
second book, to refute the paradox of his friend Serranus, who entertained a
singular, though generous, enthusiasm for the deceased emperor.  This epistle,
with some indulgence, may claim the praise of an elegant composition; and it
throws much light on the character of Maximus.]

[Footnote 2: Clientum, praevia, pedisequa, circumfusa, populositas, is the
train which Sidonius himself (l. i. epist. 9) assigns to another senator of
rank]

[Footnote 3:   Districtus ensis cui super impia
               Cervice pendet, non Siculoe dapes
               Dulcem elaborabunt saporem:
               Non avium citharaeque cantus
               Somnum reducent.

               Horat. Carm. iii. 1.

Sidonius concludes his letter with the story of Damocles, which Cicero
(Tusculan. v. 20, 21) had so inimitably told.]

     The reign of Maximus continued about three months.  His hours, of which
he had lost the command, were disturbed by remorse, or guilt, or terror, and
his throne was shaken by the seditions of the soldiers, the people, and the
confederate Barbarians.  The marriage of his son Paladius with the eldest
daughter of the late emperor, might tend to establish the hereditary
succession of his family; but the violence which he offered to the empress
Eudoxia, could proceed only from the blind impulse of lust or revenge.  His
own wife, the cause of these tragic events, had been seasonably removed by
death; and the widow of Valentinian was compelled to violate her decent
mourning, perhaps her real grief, and to submit to the embraces of a
presumptuous usurper, whom she suspected as the assassin of her deceased
husband.  These suspicions were soon justified by the indiscreet confession of
Maximus himself; and he wantonly provoked the hatred of his reluctant bride,
who was still conscious that she was descended from a line of emperors.  From
the East, however, Eudoxia could not hope to obtain any effectual assistance;
her father and her aunt Pulcheria were dead; her mother languished at
Jerusalem in disgrace and exile; and the sceptre of Constantinople was in the
hands of a stranger. She directed her eyes towards Carthage; secretly implored
the aid of the king of the Vandals; and persuaded Genseric to improve the fair
opportunity of disguising his rapacious designs by the specious names of
honor, justice, and compassion. ^4 Whatever abilities Maximus might have shown
in a subordinate station, he was found incapable of administering an empire;
and though he might easily have been informed of the naval preparations which
were made on the opposite shores of Africa, he expected with supine
indifference the approach of the enemy, without adopting any measures of
defence, of negotiation, or of a timely retreat.  When the Vandals disembarked
at the mouth of the Tyber, the emperor was suddenly roused from his lethargy
by the clamors of a trembling and exasperated multitude.  The only hope which
presented itself to his astonished mind was that of a precipitate flight, and
he exhorted the senators to imitate the example of their prince.  But no
sooner did Maximus appear in the streets, than he was assaulted by a shower of
stones; a Roman, or a Burgundian soldier, claimed the honor of the first
wound; his mangled body was ignominiously cast into the Tyber; the Roman
people rejoiced in the punishment which they had inflicted on the author of
the public calamities; and the domestics of Eudoxia signalized their zeal in
the service of their mistress. ^5

[Footnote 4: Notwithstanding the evidence of Procopius, Evagrius, Idatius
Marcellinus, &c., the learned Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. iv. p. 249
doubts the reality of this invitation, and observes, with great truth, "Non si
puo dir quanto sia facile il popolo a sognare e spacciar voci false." But his
argument, from the interval of time and place, is extremely feeble. The figs
which grew near Carthage were produced to the senate of Rome on the third
day.]

[Footnote 5: -      Infidoque tibi Burgundio ductu
                    Extorquet trepidas mactandi principis iras.

                    Sidon. in Panegyr. Avit. 442.

A remarkable line, which insinuates that Rome and Maximus were betrayed by
their Burgundian mercenaries.]

     On the third day after the tumult, Genseric boldly advanced from the port
of Ostia to the gates of the defenceless city.  Instead of a sally of the
Roman youth, there issued from the gates an unarmed and venerable procession
of the bishop at the head of his clergy. ^6 The fearless spirit of Leo, his
authority and eloquence, again mitigated the fierceness of a Barbarian
conqueror; the king of the Vandals promised to spare the unresisting
multitude, to protect the buildings from fire, and to exempt the captives from
torture; and although such orders were neither seriously given, nor strictly
obeyed, the mediation of Leo was glorious to himself, and in some degree
beneficial to his country.  But Rome and its inhabitants were delivered to the
licentiousness of the Vandals and Moors, whose blind passions revenged the
injuries of Carthage.  The pillage lasted fourteen days and nights; and all
that yet remained of public or private wealth, of sacred or profane treasure,
was diligently transported to the vessels of Genseric.  Among the spoils, the
splendid relics of two temples, or rather of two religions, exhibited a
memorable example of the vicissitudes of human and divine things.  Since the
abolition of Paganism, the Capitol had been violated and abandoned; yet the
statues of the gods and heroes were still respected, and the curious roof of
gilt bronze was reserved for the rapacious hands of Genseric. ^7 The holy
instruments of the Jewish worship, ^8 the gold table, and the gold candlestick
with seven branches, originally framed according to the particular
instructions of God himself, and which were placed in the sanctuary of his
temple, had been ostentatiously displayed to the Roman people in the triumph
of Titus.  They were afterwards deposited in the temple of Peace; and at the
end of four hundred years, the spoils of Jerusalem were transferred from Rome
to Carthage, by a Barbarian who derived his origin from the shores of the
Baltic.  These ancient monuments might attract the notice of curiosity, as
well as of avarice.  But the Christian churches, enriched and adorned by the
prevailing superstition of the times, afforded more plentiful materials for
sacrilege; and the pious liberality of Pope Leo, who melted six silver vases,
the gift of Constantine, each of a hundred pounds weight, is an evidence of
the damage which he attempted to repair.  In the forty-five years that had
elapsed since the Gothic invasion, the pomp and luxury of Rome were in some
measure restored; and it was difficult either to escape, or to satisfy, the
avarice of a conqueror, who possessed leisure to collect, and ships to
transport, the wealth of the capital.  The Imperial ornaments of the palace,
the magnificent furniture and wardrobe, the sideboards of massy plate, were
accumulated with disorderly rapine; the gold and silver amounted to several
thousand talents; yet even the brass and copper were laboriously removed.
Eudoxia herself, who advanced to meet her friend and deliverer, soon bewailed
the imprudence of her own conduct. She was rudely stripped of her jewels; and
the unfortunate empress, with her two daughters, the only surviving remains of
the great Theodosius, was compelled, as a captive, to follow the haughty
Vandal; who immediately hoisted sail, and returned with a prosperous
navigation to the port of Carthage. ^9 Many thousand Romans of both sexes,
chosen for some useful or agreeable qualifications, reluctantly embarked on
board the fleet of Genseric; and their distress was aggravated by the
unfeeling Barbarians, who, in the division of the booty, separated the wives
from their husbands, and the children from their parents.  The charity of
Deogratias, bishop of Carthage, ^10 was their only consolation and support.
He generously sold the gold and silver plate of the church to purchase the
freedom of some, to alleviate the slavery of others, and to assist the wants
and infirmities of a captive multitude, whose health was impaired by the
hardships which they had suffered in their passage from Italy to Africa.  By
his order, two spacious churches were converted into hospitals; the sick were
distributed into convenient beds, and liberally supplied with food and
medicines; and the aged prelate repeated his visits both in the day and night,
with an assiduity that surpassed his strength, and a tender sympathy which
enhanced the value of his services.  Compare this scene with the field of
Cannae; and judge between Hannibal and the successor of St. Cyprian. ^11

[Footnote 6: The apparant success of Pope Leo may be justified by Prosper, and
the Historia Miscellan.; but the improbable notion of Baronius A.D. 455, No.
13) that Genseric spared the three apostolical churches, is not countenanced
even by the doubtful testimony of the Liber Pontificalis.]

[Footnote 7: The profusion of Catulus, the first who gilt the roof of the
Capitol, was not universally approved, (Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 18;) but it
was far exceeded by the emperor's, and the external gilding of the temple cost
Domitian 12,000 talents, (2,400,000l.) The expressions of Claudian and
Rutilius (luce metalli oemula .... fastigia astris, and confunduntque vagos
delubra micantia visus) manifestly prove, that this splendid covering was not
removed either by the Christians or the Goths, (see Donatus, Roma Antiqua, l.
ii. c. 6, p. 125.) It should seem that the roof of the Capitol was decorated
with gilt statues, and chariots drawn by four horses.]

[Footnote 8: The curious reader may consult the learned and accurate treatise
of Hadrian Reland, de Spoliis Templi Hierosolymitani in Arcu Titiano Romae
conspicuis, in 12mo.  Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1716.]

[Footnote 9: The vessel which transported the relics of the Capitol was the
only one of the whole fleet that suffered shipwreck.  If a bigoted sophist, a
Pagan bigot, had mentioned the accident, he might have rejoiced that this
cargo of sacrilege was lost in the sea.]

[Footnote 10: See Victor Vitensis, de Persecut. Vandal. l. i. c. 8, p. 11, 12,
edit. Ruinart.  Deogratius governed the church of Carthage only three years.
If he had not been privately buried, his corpse would have been torn piecemeal
by the mad devotion of the people.]

[Footnote 11: The general evidence for the death of Maximus, and the sack of
Rome by the Vandals, is comprised in Sidonius, (Panegyr. Avit. 441 - 450,)
Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4, 5, p. 188, 189, and l. ii. c. 9, p.
255,) Evagrius, (l. ii. c. 7,) Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c. 45, p. 677,)
and the Chronicles of Idatius, Prosper, Marcellinus, and Theophanes, under the
proper year.]

     The deaths of Aetius and Valentinian had relaxed the ties which held the
Barbarians of Gaul in peace and subordination.  The sea-coast was infested by
the Saxons; the Alemanni and the Franks advanced from the Rhine to the Seine;
and the ambition of the Goths seemed to meditate more extensive and permanent
conquests.  The emperor Maximus relieved himself, by a judicious choice, from
the weight of these distant cares; he silenced the solicitations of his
friends, listened to the voice of fame, and promoted a stranger to the general
command of the forces of Gaul.  Avitus, ^12 the stranger, whose merit was so
nobly rewarded, descended from a wealthy and honorable family in the diocese
of Auvergne.  The convulsions of the times urged him to embrace, with the same
ardor, the civil and military professions: and the indefatigable youth blended
the studies of literature and jurisprudence with the exercise of arms and
hunting.  Thirty years of his life were laudably spent in the public service;
he alternately displayed his talents in war and negotiation; and the soldier
of Aetius, after executing the most important embassies, was raised to the
station of Praetorian praefect of Gaul.  Either the merit of Avitus excited
envy, or his moderation was desirous of repose, since he calmly retired to an
estate, which he possessed in the neighborhood of Clermont.  A copious stream,
issuing from the mountain, and falling headlong in many a loud and foaming
cascade, discharged its waters into a lake about two miles in length, and the
villa was pleasantly seated on the margin of the lake.  The baths, the
porticos, the summer and winter apartments, were adapted to the purposes of
luxury and use; and the adjacent country afforded the various prospects of
woods, pastures, and meodows. ^13 In this retreat, where Avitus amused his
leisure with books, rural sports, the practice of husbandry, and the society
of his friends, ^14 he received the Imperial diploma, which constituted him
master-general of the cavalry and infantry of Gaul.  He assumed the military
command; the Barbarians suspended their fury; and whatever means he might
employ, whatever concessions he might be forced to make, the people enjoyed
the benefits of actual tranquillity. But the fate of Gaul depended on the
Visigoths; and the Roman general, less attentive to his dignity than to the
public interest, did not disdain to visit Thoulouse in the character of an
ambassador.  He was received with courteous hospitality by Theodoric, the king
of the Goths; but while Avitus laid the foundations of a solid alliance with
that powerful nation, he was astonished by the intelligence, that the emperor
Maximus was slain, and that Rome had been pillaged by the Vandals.  A vacant
throne, which he might ascend without guilt or danger, tempted his ambition;
^15 and the Visigoths were easily persuaded to support his claim by their
irresistible suffrage.  They loved the person of Avitus; they respected his
virtues; and they were not insensible of the advantage, as well as honor, of
giving an emperor to the West.  The season was now approaching, in which the
annual assembly of the seven provinces was held at Arles; their deliberations
might perhaps be influenced by the presence of Theodoric and his martial
brothers; but their choice would naturally incline to the most illustrious of
their countrymen.  Avitus, after a decent resistance, accepted the Imperial
diadem from the representatives of Gaul; and his election was ratified by the
acclamations of the Barbarians and provincials.  The formal consent of
Marcian, emperor of the East, was solicited and obtained; but the senate,
Rome, and Italy, though humbled by their recent calamities, submitted with a
secret murmur to the presumption of the Gallic usurper.

[Footnote 12: The private life and elevation of Avitus must be deduced, with
becoming suspicion, from the panegyric pronounced by Sidonius Apollinaris, his
subject, and his son-in-law.]

[Footnote 13: After the example of the younger Pliny, Sidonius (l. ii. c. 2)
has labored the florid, prolix, and obscure description of his villa, which
bore the name, (Avitacum,) and had been the property of Avitus.  The precise
situation is not ascertained.  Consult, however, the notes of Savaron and
Sirmond.]

[Footnote 14: Sidonius (l. ii. epist. 9) has described the country life of the
Gallic nobles, in a visit which he made to his friends, whose estates were in
the neighborhood of Nismes.  The morning hours were spent in the
sphoeristerium, or tennis-court; or in the library, which was furnished with
Latin authors, profane and religious; the former for the men, the latter for
the ladies.  The table was twice served, at dinner and supper, with hot meat
(boiled and roast) and wine.  During the intermediate time, the company slept,
took the air on horseback, and need the warm bath.]

[Footnote 15: Seventy lines of panegyric (505 - 575) which describe the
importunity of Theodoric and of Gaul, struggling to overcome the modest
reluctance of Avitus, are blown away by three words of an honest historian.
Romanum ambisset Imperium, (Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 1l, in tom. ii. p. 168.)]

     Theodoric, to whom Avitus was indebted for the purple, had acquired the
Gothic sceptre by the murder of his elder brother Torismond; and he justified
this atrocious deed by the design which his predecessor had formed of
violating his alliance with the empire. ^16 Such a crime might not be
incompatible with the virtues of a Barbarian; but the manners of Theodoric
were gentle and humane; and posterity may contemplate without terror the
original picture of a Gothic king, whom Sidonius had intimately observed, in
the hours of peace and of social intercourse.  In an epistle, dated from the
court of Thoulouse, the orator satisfies the curiosity of one of his friends,
in the following description: ^17 "By the majesty of his appearance, Theodoric
would command the respect of those who are ignorant of his merit; and although
he is born a prince, his merit would dignify a private station.  He is of a
middle stature, his body appears rather plump than fat, and in his
well-proportioned limbs agility is united with muscular strength. ^18 If you
examine his countenance, you will distinguish a high forehead, large shaggy
eyebrows, an aquiline nose, thin lips, a regular set of white teeth, and a
fair complexion, that blushes more frequently from modesty than from anger.
The ordinary distribution of his time, as far as it is exposed to the public
view, may be concisely represented.  Before daybreak, he repairs, with a small
train, to his domestic chapel, where the service is performed by the Arian
clergy; but those who presume to interpret his secret sentiments, consider
this assiduous devotion as the effect of habit and policy.  The rest of the
morning is employed in the administration of his kingdom.  His chair is
surrounded by some military officers of decent aspect and behavior: the noisy
crowd of his Barbarian guards occupies the hall of audience; but they are not
permitted to stand within the veils or curtains that conceal the
council-chamber from vulgar eyes.  The ambassadors of the nations are
successively introduced: Theodoric listens with attention, answers them with
discreet brevity, and either announces or delays, according to the nature of
their business, his final resolution.  About eight (the second hour) he rises
from his throne, and visits either his treasury or his stables.  If he chooses
to hunt, or at least to exercise himself on horseback, his bow is carried by a
favorite youth; but when the game is marked, he bends it with his own hand,
and seldom misses the object of his aim: as a king, he disdains to bear arms
in such ignoble warfare; but as a soldier, he would blush to accept any
military service which he could perform himself.  On common days, his dinner
is not different from the repast of a private citizen, but every Saturday,
many honorable guests are invited to the royal table, which, on these
occasions, is served with the elegance of Greece, the plenty of Gaul, and the
order and diligence of Italy. ^19 The gold or silver plate is less remarkable
for its weight than for the brightness and curious workmanship: the taste is
gratified without the help of foreign and costly luxury; the size and number
of the cups of wine are regulated with a strict regard to the laws of
temperance; and the respectful silence that prevails, is interrupted only by
grave and instructive conversation.  After dinner, Theodoric sometimes
indulges himself in a short slumber; and as soon as he wakes, he calls for the
dice and tables, encourages his friends to forget the royal majesty, and is
delighted when they freely express the passions which are excited by the
incidents of play.  At this game, which he loves as the image of war, he
alternately displays his eagerness, his skill, his patience, and his cheerful
temper.  If he loses, he laughs; he is modest and silent if he wins.  Yet,
notwithstanding this seeming indifference, his courtiers choose to solicit any
favor in the moments of victory; and I myself, in my applications to the king,
have derived some benefit from my losses. ^20 About the ninth hour (three
o'clock) the tide of business again returns, and flows incessantly till after
sunset, when the signal of the royal supper dismisses the weary crowd of
suppliants and pleaders.  At the supper, a more familiar repast, buffoons and
pantomimes are sometimes introduced, to divert, not to offend, the company, by
their ridiculous wit: but female singers, and the soft, effeminate modes of
music, are severely banished, and such martial tunes as animate the soul to
deeds of valor are alone grateful to the ear of Theodoric.  He retires from
table; and the nocturnal guards are immediately posted at the entrance of the
treasury, the palace, and the private apartments."

[Footnote 16: Isidore, archbishop of Seville, who was himself of the blood
royal of the Goths, acknowledges, and almost justifies, (Hist. Goth. p. 718,)
the crime which their slave Jornandes had basely dissembled, (c 43, p. 673.)]

[Footnote 17: This elaborate description (l. i. ep. ii. p. 2 - 7) was dictated
by some political motive.  It was designed for the public eye, and had been
shown by the friends of Sidonius, before it was inserted in the collection of
his epistles.  The first book was published separately.  See Tillemont,
Memoires Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 264.]

[Footnote 18: I have suppressed, in this portrait of Theodoric, several minute
circumstances, and technical phrases, which could be tolerable, or indeed
intelligible, to those only who, like the contemporaries of Sidonius, had
frequented the markets where naked slaves were exposed to male, (Dubos, Hist.
Critique, tom. i. p. 404.)]

[Footnote 19: Videas ibi elegantiam Graecam, abundantiam Gallicanam;
celeritatem Italam; publicam pompam, privatam diligentiam, regiam
disciplinam.]

[Footnote 20: Tunc etiam ego aliquid obsecraturus feliciter vincor, et mihi
tabula perit ut causa salvetur.  Sidonius of Auvergne was not a subject of
Theodoric; but he might be compelled to solicit either justice or favor at the
court of Thoulouse.]

     When the king of the Visigoths encouraged Avitus to assume the purple, he
offered his person and his forces, as a faithful soldier of the republic. ^21
The exploits of Theodoric soon convinced the world that he had not degenerated
from the warlike virtues of his ancestors.  After the establishment of the
Goths in Aquitain, and the passage of the Vandals into Africa, the Suevi, who
had fixed their kingdom in Gallicia, aspired to the conquest of Spain, and
threatened to extinguish the feeble remains of the Roman dominion.  The
provincials of Carthagena and Tarragona, afflicted by a hostile invasion,
represented their injuries and their apprehensions. Count Fronto was
despatched, in the name of the emperor Avitus, with advantageous offers of
peace and alliance; and Theodoric interposed his weighty mediation, to
declare, that, unless his brother-in-law, the king of the Suevi, immediately
retired, he should be obliged to arm in the cause of justice and of Rome.
"Tell him," replied the haughty Rechiarius, "that I despise his friendship and
his arms; but that I shall soon try whether he will dare to expect my arrival
under the walls of Thoulouse." Such a challenge urged Theodoric to prevent the
bold designs of his enemy; he passed the Pyrenees at the head of the
Visigoths: the Franks and Burgundians served under his standard; and though he
professed himself the dutiful servant of Avitus, he privately stipulated, for
himself and his successors, the absolute possession of his Spanish conquests.
The two armies, or rather the two nations, encountered each other on the banks
of the River Urbicus, about twelve miles from Astorga; and the decisive
victory of the Goths appeared for a while to have extirpated the name and
kingdom of the Suevi.  From the field of battle Theodoric advanced to Braga,
their metropolis, which still retained the splendid vestiges of its ancient
commerce and dignity. ^22 His entrance was not polluted with blood; and the
Goths respected the chastity of their female captives, more especially of the
consecrated virgins: but the greatest part of the clergy and people were made
slaves, and even the churches and altars were confounded in the universal
pillage.  The unfortunate king of the Suevi had escaped to one of the ports of
the ocean; but the obstinacy of the winds opposed his flight: he was delivered
to his implacable rival; and Rechiarius, who neither desired nor expected
mercy, received, with manly constancy, the death which he would probably have
inflicted.  After this bloody sacrifice to policy or resentment, Theodoric
carried his victorious arms as far as Merida, the principal town of Lusitania,
without meeting any resistance, except from the miraculous powers of St.
Eulalia; but he was stopped in the full career of success, and recalled from
Spain before he could provide for the security of his conquests.  In his
retreat towards the Pyrenees, he revenged his disappointment on the country
through which he passed; and, in the sack of Pollentia and Astorga, he showed
himself a faithless ally, as well as a cruel enemy.  Whilst the king of the
Visigoths fought and vanquished in the name of Avitus, the reign of Avitus had
expired; and both the honor and the interest of Theodoric were deeply wounded
by the disgrace of a friend, whom he had seated on the throne of the Western
empire. ^23

[Footnote 21: Theodoric himself had given a solemn and voluntary promise of
fidelity, which was understood both in Gaul and Spain.

     - Romae sum, te duce, Amicus,
     Principe te, Miles.

     Sidon. Panegyr. Avit. 511.]

[Footnote 22: Quaeque sinu pelagi jactat se Bracara dives.

     Auson. de Claris Urbibus, p. 245.

From the design of the king of the Suevi, it is evident that the navigation
from the ports of Gallicia to the Mediterranean was known and practised. The
ships of Bracara, or Braga, cautiously steered along the coast, without daring
to lose themselves in the Atlantic.]

[Footnote 23: This Suevic war is the most authentic part of the Chronicle of
Idatius, who, as bishop of Iria Flavia, was himself a spectator and a
sufferer.  Jornandes (c. 44, p. 675, 676, 677) has expatiated, with pleasure,
on the Gothic victory.]